MITOS Students

Student Sustainability Researchers

Our students develop meaningful work to advance a sustainable campus at MIT and to build their professional experience in institutional transformation. We hire both undergraduate and graduate students to help shape the future of sustainability at MIT and beyond.

Check out our open postings here.

Meet our current student researchers!
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Katerina Boukin
Climate Action Researcher

Katya is a PhD student at the “Concrete Sustainability Hub” at the department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Her passion lies in structural resiliency of the city scape to flood related natural disasters. Joining MIT office of sustainability in September of 2020 as a climate resiliency modeler and simulator, she is working on developing an improved method to assess, predict and mitigate storm and flood induced hazards. Her research project matches her work at MITOS, combining the projects she is using MIT campus as a test bed in her research work, trying to assess and mitigate natural disaster hazards as well as impacts of climate change on the severity of damages.

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Dylan Cook
Climate Communications, Social Media

Dylan is a current freshman undergraduate looking to study chemical/environmental engineering. He is involved with Terrascope, MIT Divest, and has a radio show on WMBR Cambridge. He is an Eagle Scout & enjoys canoeing, hiking, camping, and spending time outdoors. He also likes spending time with friends and producing music.

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Ippolyti Dellatolas
Climate Action Sustainability Researcher

Ippolyti is a graduate student in the MIT Mechanical Engineering department whose research aims at understanding and preventing the uneven flow that occurs when rain infiltrates hydrophobic soils vertically. Such uneven flow impedes water retention, optimal filtering of chemicals and can trigger catastrophic landslides. Outside of the lab, she is involved in environmental initiatives across the MIT campus, through the MIT Water Club, GSC Sustain and the MIT Office of Sustainability. Having joined MITOS in summer 2021, Ippolyti performs energy modeling and cost-benefit analyses to provide recommendations for emissions reduction in lab spaces at MIT.

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Jie Fan
Climate Change Data Analyst

Jie is a candidate pursuing the Master of Science in Architecture Studies and Urbanism program at MIT. Her current focus lies in the realm of urban data, where we can push the boundaries of urban development by leveraging data insights to create spaces that resonate with people. Algorithms such as machine learning and artificial intelligence can be adapted to explore urban patterns and envision a future that prioritizes inclusivity and sustainability. Meanwhile, this topic extends beyond technology, encompassing perspectives of anthropology and sociology. She joined MITOS in the summer of 2023, supporting the data analysis of Scope 3. 

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Rebecca Houston-Read
MIT Campus Heat Risk Analyst

Rebecca is a Master in City Planning Student at MIT. Her research interests include environmental justice, social equity, and community-engaged research. Since 2019, she has been a researcher on MIT’s Healthy Neighborhoods Study, where she collaborates with academic and community partners to study the relationship between health and neighborhood change. Rebecca also holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Wesleyan University.

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Sanjana Paul
Campus Heat Risk Researcher

Sanjana is a Master of City Planning candidate in MIT's Department of Urban Studies and Planning, focusing on environmental policy and planning. She holds a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering and physics and is the executive director and co-founder of Earth Hacks, an environmental hackathon organization. Her work at MITOS focuses on distribution and risks from localized extreme heat.

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Erika Pilpre
Sustainable Food and Dining

Erika is a current junior undergraduate at MIT studying Computer Science and Economics. Her passions lie in the intersection of food, sustainability, and technology. At MIT, she’s been involved in FoodTech@MIT and Startlabs. She has previously interned at Impossible Foods and Climax Foods, where she ran sensory experiments. Outside of school, Erika loves to listen to podcasts, experiment with new flavors in the kitchen, and explore whichever city she is in! 

Past MITOS Students

Learn about the many students that have worked for MITOS over the years.

Scales of Impact

The challenges of sustainability are both local and global. Creating transformative solutions requires deep collaboration among community leaders and members on campus, city and global scales.

It starts with you on campus.

We start with you to find solutions at the campus level to serve both the institution's needs as well as to incubate new and big ideas.

you, campus, city, globe